Ron Marquette, former UPAC leader and UCCC official since 2006, dies at 68 after suffering heart attack

Ron Marquette, credited by many with saving the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston when he served at its artistic director, died Friday at age 68.

Marquette's death was confirmed by Donald Katt, the president of Ulster County Community College, where Marquette had been coordinator of Community Relations and Special Events since 2006.

Katt said Marquette went to Albany Medical Center on Wednesday for surgery after suffering a heart attack and that he took "a turn for the worse" on Thursday. Marquette died about 4 a.m. Friday, Katt said.

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"He was a campus leader," Katt said. "He was always promoting the arts economy in Ulster County, and he was an articulate spokesman for the visual and performing arts. The entire campus is shocked with the news."

Those who knew Marquette said he was a tireless champion of economic development in Ulster County.

"Ron Marquette made Ulster County his adopted home, and the people of Ulster County are very lucky he did," said County Executive Michael Hein. "He made it a better place. I am deeply saddened at the news of his passing. He was a strong fighter for a better Ulster County and a dear friend."

Marquette led UPAC from 1994 to 2005, prior to UPAC merging with the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, and was artistic director of the Shadowland Theater in Ellenville before that.

At the time of his death, Marquette also was a spokesman for AVR Acquisition Corp. of Yonkers, which plans to build the Hudson Landing housing development in the city of Kingston and town of Ulster.

Marquette also worked at one time for local housing developer Steve Aaron and was active with the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce and the now-defunct Ulster County Development Corp.

Kingston Mayor Shayne Gallo said Marquette was an active supporter of Kingston and pressed for a bright future for the city

"I am sad to hear that Ron Marquette has passed," said Gallo, noting he and Marquette met last week to discuss the AVR project. "He was truly an advocate for change in our community. His (death) will be a loss to this community."

Gallo said without Marquette, the continued existence of UPAC, which in on Broadway in Midtown Kingston, "may well not have happened."

"Thank you Ron, and God bless you," Gallo said.

In the mid-1990s, Gallo's brother, then-Mayor T.R. Gallo, worked with Marquette to keep UPAC going.

Former Kingston Mayor James Sottile, who also worked closely with Marquette regarding UPAC, described him as a relentless supporter of the arts in Kingston.

"He really loved the arts community," Sottile said. "Ron put his heart and soul into our community. He did everything he could to promote this community and the Broadway corridor."

Kevin Quilty, president of the Kingston Uptown Business Association, described Marquette as a "citizen activist."

"He was very insightful man who always spoke his mind and delivered it with a great sense of humor," Quilty said.

At the time he left UPAC, Marquette said the performing arts center had become his passion.

"Whatever we do, we can't go to work if we don't have a passion every day," he told the Freeman at the time. "And my passion is still, and has been for many years, about UPAC and about Midtown Kingston, and quality-of-life issues in our community. And UPAC is in a good place right now."

Anthony Marmo, president of the UPAC board of directors during Marquette's time there, called Marquette's contributions "immeasurable."

"Ron's a tenacious leader," Marmo said at the time. "He brought UPAC to a level most of us thought couldn't happen."

Ethan Burwell, secretary of the Student Government at Ulster County Community College, remembered Marquette fondly on Friday.

"Ron was the student government adviser, having begun the position this school year," Burwell said in an email. "It was among his newest campus roles, but it was also the role in which he was most able to interact with the student body and for which most of the student body recognizes him. It is a role from which he derived much pride in recent months."

Katt, in a prepared statement issued Friday afternoon, said Marquette "will be keenly missed by faculty, staff and students."

"We came to rely on and truly appreciate his vision, his leadership, can-do attitude, approachable style and wonderful sense of humor," Katt said. "Ron's many contributions to the college and to the community at large will endure for years to come in the areas of arts and cultural programming, economic development and fostering student life and student leadership on the (UCCC) campus. We, as a college and as a county, have been the privileged beneficiaries of his talent and his genuine and sincere commitment to his community."

Plans for a memorial service for Marquette were to be announced by the Simpson-Gaus Funeral Home in Kingston.